Commuters seek end to traffic snarl

Those who reside at Jakande Estate, Ejigbo, Cele-Egbe, Ikotun, Ijegun, Abaranja, Okerube, Ijagemo, Ijeododo, Idimu, Igando and their environs, seem to have a unified prayer point daily. They pray that the rehabilitation work being carried out at Iyana-Ejigbo be completed in good time. The terrifically hard times they experience on daily basis while going or returning from their various places of work or businesses seem to necessitate this yearning as the stress they go through is quite excruciating.

Anyone who passes this road to work or business outside of any of these towns ensures that he or she wakes up as early as 4:00 in the morning if he or she wishes to get to his or her working place early enough. This is so in order to beat the perennial gridlock that usually keeps both motorists and commuters unnecessarily anxious; more so this time there is serious road reconstruction between Jakande Gate and Ejigbo by the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area with assistance from the Lagos State Government.

The rehabilitation work started early last year from Jakande Estate Gate. It took some time before the stretch between that point and NNPC Junction was completed. During that period, commuters and motorists went through piercingly agonising moment in time. There was some respite when that short stretch was completed. Then there was a lull.

There was not full rehabilitation work between NNPC Junction and Iyana-Ejigbo as reconstruction work began in earnest from Iyana-Ejigbo Junction which usually has the semblance of a massive ocean any time there was down pour; whether heavy or mild. The road was and still so bad that cars get stuck. Pedestrians have no option than to walk through the dirty water with the risk of being contaminated. Before commercial motorcycle operators were banned, some and their passengers usually fall into this murky and malodorous stagnant water and they pull out smelling like pigs. Most times they would sustain various degrees of injuries. The nauseating situation could have informed the council’s decision to work on that spot before other areas.

Though of good intention, the condition of that road seems to worsen motorist’ and pedestrians’ plight. Apart from traffic jam at some points of the Ikotun-Ejigbo-Mushin Road, that of the intersection at Iyana-Ejigbo is grave. The reconstruction work is so slow so much so that it rendered the already bad road impenetrable as there is terrible gridlock at that point on a daily basis.

The construction of drainage system seems to be the encumbrance because of the breadth. It is so wide and so deep that it encroached into the already tapered road making it narrower. Imagine how wide a drainage system is that the caterpillar would has to go inside it to hollow-out sand.

The dangerous nature of Ikotun-Ejigbo axis of the road has become a source of unpleasant health hazards. For instance, a situation in which passengers are trapped in terrifically boring gridlock for more than four hours is grim. People get to their respective homes at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. They sleep for two hours then wake up at 4:00 a.m. to get set for another day’s work. The stress associated with this experience is nerve-racking. Majority of the people have developed either high blood pressure or some other stress-related ailments.

Some of the people who spoke with our correspondent said that people who live at Ikotun and its environs go through grave stress on daily basis either while leaving or entering Ikotun because of the terrible gridlock; especially at Iyana-Ejigbo.

For instance, Mr Sampson Ihuoma who lives at Igando and works on the Island disclosed said that on a very bad day, he spends between three and four hours from Ikotun to Cele Express from where he will board a bus to CMS. This, he said, is despite that he usually wakes up at 3:30 in the morning to prepare for work and hits the road at 4:15 in the morning.

Mr Ihuoma is one among the millions of residents of Ikotun and its surrounding neighbourhoods whose route to their working places is the only road that leads to Ikotun and other towns that are contiguous to it.

Mr Monday Akpan who has his shop at Mushin told our correspondent that he makes sure that his alarm clock is set at 3:00 a.m. to enable him to get to his shop in good time. He also said that any day he leaves his home at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning; he would get to Mushin very late in the day.

These residents experience this hardship due to what they termed lack of alternative route into or out of Ikotun, resulting in a situation where people have dubbed it “One Way to Ikotun.” This translates to the fact that millions who reside at Ikotun and other adjoining towns have no option than to pass through this only road.

Residents of these areas contend that if there are alternative link roads out of or into Ikotun, the limitless stress and danger they experience daily would have been mitigated.

In order to beat the traffic jam if one should get to one’s place of work or business on time, most commuters have resorted to boarding commercial motorcycles popularly known as okada even though the ban on them. They have to pay exorbitant prices in order to get the services of those who still operate. Most times, they risk not getting to their destinations on time as law enforcement agents arrest the operators and seize the motorcycles.

The road to Ikotun is a narrow one, though with some points somewhat wide. It is a road whose greater part is riddled with pot holes. This, in the main, is the cause of this crazy logjam which commuters experience every morning and evening on daily basis.

A critical study of the distinctive nature of Ikotun Road reveals that there are specific days of the week that commuters experience appalling situations. Mondays, Tuesdays (Aswani Market days) and Fridays are dreadful days for commuters.

Again, there are some stretches on this road that Ikotun-bound commuters look out for to know how many hours they are to spend on traffic. Those returning from Mushin to Ikotun do experience peace of mind if, on getting to Daleko where the overhead bridge across Apapa-Oshodi Expressway starts, there is less traffic jam. After thanking God for a stress-free passage at Daleko, their prayers would be that they should experience the same situation at Limca Junction which is the beginning of the Isolo stretch of the road. Another dreadful area on this road is the Osolo Way Junction.

Once the gridlock begins from the Osolo Way Junction, commuters would start giving their respective families what the traffic situation is like, even as one may hear “traffic is too much,” “I may come in late, don’t lock the gate,” or “I don’t know the time I will reach home because of the terrible traffic situation. We are still at Isolo and this is getting to eight even though I left office at 6:00 in the evening.”

The unpalatable traffic situation from Osolo Way Junction stretches up to Iyana-Ejigbo. This is when the road starts getting a bit free, that is after passing the traffic hurdle at Kpako round-about where vehicles from both Mushin and Cele-Express get trapped in a senseless gridlock due to lack of patience and discipline in obeying traffic rules. Jakande Estate gate is another point where commuters dread because of the intersection. This is because those going into the estate find it difficult to negotiate into it as a result of motorists coming from Iyana-Ejigbo axis that do not obey traffic rules. This happens mostly when road traffic managers have closed for the day.

Currently, the route between Jakande Estate Gate and NNPC Junction is a smooth ride. Then, on getting to NEPA after this junction, traffic builds to its peak. motorists prepare their minds to spend some hours on a stand-still form of traffic jam.

At Iyana-Ejigbo intersection, the main quandary begins. Motorists spend another couple of hours before they would get across. This is as a result of the worsening state of the junction. The road to Ejigbo is quite impassable as there is what could pass as a mighty river has taken over the road.

After what seems a two-lane road which intersects at Ori-Oke bus stop before the minuscule bridge at Cele-Egbe, commuters prepare their minds for a horridly hellish experience. Here, the logjam can last up to two hours just to cross the bridge that is less than 30 meters long.

But should there be an accident on that bridge, then, some commuters would get home at 3:00 in the morning.

Then, at the Ikotun end, the logjam extends from the bridge to after Cele-Egbe.

In an ordinary day, when commuters get across the narrow bridge, their prayers would be that the Synagogue Church axis of the road should be free because the area has the notoriety of being another point where traffic can last over two hours. But if that spot is free, it is certain that passengers would spend between 30 and 40 minutes between the Synagogue Church and Ikotun Roundabout, an area one could describe as intolerably messy. People and vehicles compete for space like an exasperated multitude. It should be noted that Ikotun is the last bus stop that the passengers would disembark before heading towards their respective locations; that is to Ijegun, Abaranja, Okerube, Ijagemo, Ijeododo, Idimu, Igando and others towns that are contiguous to Ikotun.

Residents of these areas have cried to the Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area and Lagos State government to quicken the rehabilitation work in order to help residents of these areas. They also pleaded with Governor Fashola to hasten the construction of Jakande-Bucknor-Ijegun Road which they believe would decongest the traffic on the notorious and stressful Ikotun Road.

Mr Sunday Etuk, another resident of the area, told Southwest Report that “gone are the days when Ikotun is regarded as an obscure area. Now, Ikotun is developed as people enter Ikotun and other neighbouring areas in droves to reside in. Residents of Ikotun and its environs should be alleviated of the enormous suffering they experience daily.

Another resident, Mr Okwuchukwu Okere, who works on the Island, would want the Ejigbo council and Lagos State government “to expedite action on the rehabilitation work on the Ejigbo axis of Ikotun-Mushin Road, even as he pleaded that the construction of Ijegun-Jakande Estate Road should be completed as an urgent alternative route for those going to either Mushin or Cele-Express en route to the Island. This, when completed, he said, would drastically reduce the frustrating traffic jam on the Ikotun Road.